OXFORD, England — (BUSINESS WIRE) — September 18, 2013 —
RS
Components (RS) and Allied Electronics (Allied) the trading brands
of
Electrocomponents
plc (LSE:
ECM), the worlds leading high service distributor of
electronics and maintenance products, are marking the recent launch of
the
DesignSpark
Mechanical 3D design software by bringing together top industry
advocates from the worlds of electronic and industrial design in a
48-hour challenge to create an invention using this intuitive new 3D
modelling and assembly tool, which is available completely
free-of-charge.

The prototyping event kicks off today in the distinguished presence of
English inventor Trevor Baylis OBE, best known for developing the
wind-up radio. Five participating teams comprising design specialists
from leading companies including Arduino, Dyson, Elektor, Hitex,
RepRapPro, Schneider Electric, SpaceClaim, 3M, TE Connectivity, and
TraceParts, will be tasked to invent a design or concept that could make
a significant positive impact on peoples lives, constructed around
themes such as accessibility to technology and sustainability.

Over the course of the next two days, the teams will combine their own
ideas with those gathered from the online DesignSpark community and from
followers of the challenge on social media channels such as Facebook and
Twitter. Together they will illustrate how this fast and easy-to-use
free tool, which was developed in conjunction with SpaceClaim, breaks
down the barriers of complex, time-intensive 3D design, and opens up the
possibility of design experimentation to anyone interested or involved
in product development. This is enabled by a powerful methodology called
direct modelling, which uses simple gestures that can be likened to
virtual clay modelling.

From Friday 20th September, followers will have one week to
vote for their favourite final design by visiting
www.designspark.com/design-challenge.
A video channel will also be running throughout the challenge at the
same location. Designs will be made available for free under an open
source licence from DesignSpark.com.

Until now, 3D design has been out of reach for anyone other than CAD
specialists who understand the complexities of 3D modelling, and have
been in a position to invest in expensive high-end 3D CAD software,
said Mark Cundle, Global Head of Technical Marketing, RS Components.
DesignSpark Mechanical is set to transform this, and we are privileged
to have the endorsement and participation of Trevor Baylis and the many
other industry advocates at this exciting event to prove to potential
users just how simple this tool is to use. In the spirit of the
DesignSpark community, we are encouraging engineers to log on to the
website to interact and share ideas with the experts as the challenge
unfolds.

I have been quoted before as saying that art is pleasure, invention is
treasure, and it certainly is a pleasure to see RS and Allied imparting
the gift of invention with their new design tool, said Trevor Baylis.
Any initiative that breaks down the barrier to innovation by making it
affordable and accessible to all must be applauded and will, I hope,
inspire a whole new generation of inventors around the world. It is
heartening that so many industry experts are working together to support
and share in this important mission.

The DesignSpark Mechanical Advocate Challenge gets underway today at
12:00 British Summer Time at the Museum of Science and Industry in
Manchester, UK. To follow the challenge as it evolves, and to view
videos and blogs from the event, please visit
http://www.designspark.com/design-challenge.